Arafat Rahman was among the top officials whose name was missing from the councillors’ list of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, prepared on Saturday.
It was speculated that Arafat, the youngest son of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and also an influential adviser of the BCB, would be included in the list as one of the five nominees of the National Sports Council. But he opted out finally.
The NSC on Saturday named its five nominees of whom some are completely unknown to the cricket fraternity. The nominees are Mirza Salman Ispahani, Orman Rafey Nizam, Shafiqul Haque Hira, Ziaul Islam Masud and Shamsul Arefin. A total of 166 councillors, including 10 former cricketers, will exercise their voting rights in the BCB election, likely to be held in September. The NSC will announce the election schedule soon after it receives the list of the councillors.
Bangladesh Cricket Board named 10 former cricketers on the final day of whom only two are former national captains – Shamim Kabir and Roquibul Hassan. The other former cricketers are ASM Faruque, Azhar Hossain Shantu, Omar Khaled Rumi, Jahangir Shah Badshah, Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Wahidul Gani, Shahidur Rahman and Jahangir Alam Talukdar Dulu.
BCB president Ali Asghar had earlier told the reporters they will not consider the former cricketers who are currently employees of the board or are still playing in the domestic cricket league.
Despite this policy, the exclusion of two former national captains, Gazi Ashraf Hossain and Minhajul Abedin, came as a big surprise to many.
‘We have talked to Gazi Ashraf Hossain on several occasions regarding the issue, but he refused us,’ the BCB president told the New Age explaining the omission of the former captain, popularly known as Lipu. He, however, did not make any comment on Minhajul.
Some other BCB officials, however, claimed Minhajul was not considered as he is still playing cricket. But it appeared as a lame excuse. Minhajul retired from domestic cricket last season and he is also not an employee of the BCB in any capacity.
Meanwhile, Dhaka giants Abahani took a U-turn when they nominated Ahmed Sazzadul Alam as their councillor. Mostafa Kamal, the chairman of the Abahani cricket committee, had earlier nominated BCB adviser Jalal Younus as their councillor. But the BCB received a letter on Saturday, singed by the director in-charge of Abahani Kazi Shahed Ahmed, which said Alam would be their councillor.
Alam was earlier believed to have been sidelined for his tough stance against the present set-up of the BCB. Mubasshar Hussain, also a strong critic of the present officials, got the nod from the Bothers Union.

Mr. Arafat Rahman will be missed as a councillors' of BCB as he was a influential and powerfull member. On the other hand he was not connected with cricket as a player or an officals of any club as I know. Therefore, he might be missed or not.
What bother me is the news below:
"The NSC on Saturday named its five nominees of whom some are completely unknown to the cricket fraternity." If it is true it will be a setback for our cricket.